BASKETBALL; Tar Heels Topple the Other Top-Ranked Buckeyes

By VIV BERNSTEIN

Published: November 30, 2006

Ohio State fans were accustomed to seeing their team ranked No. 1 in the polls all season. Their football team, that is. The Buckeyes are undefeated and on their way to the Bowl Championship Series title game. But No. 1 in basketball? Those other Buckeyes had not managed that since 1962.

The streak ended this week when Ohio State, third in the Associated Press poll, showed up at No. 1 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches rankings. It was enough for Buckeyes fans to boast having two No. 1 teams at the same time.

The Buckeyes had a tough task Wednesday night to retain their lofty status. Seventh-ranked North Carolina has a program with a little history of its own at No. 1 -- five national championship banners hanging in the Smith Center.

Trailing throughout the first half, North Carolina rallied for a 98-89 victory in a Atlantic Coast Conference-Big Ten Challenge contest. The Ohio State senior Ron Lewis scored 30 points to lead all scorers, with sophomore Tyler Hansbrough topping the Tar Heels with 21 and a career-high 14 rebounds. North Carolina (5-1) won despite Ohio State's gaudy 50 percent 3-point range, including 61.5 percent in the first half.

The loss is likely to knock the Buckeyes (6-1) off that No. 1 perch next week. But few would take November polls that seriously, anyway.

''I don't ever like to lose,'' Buckeyes Coach Thad Matta said, ''but the barometer here is that we can play.''

And North Carolina came away with the same feeling.

''Rankings right now, it's early on,'' Hansbrough said. ''But at the same time, it shows where we stand and what we can do.''

This matchup was also a glimpse of the near future of college basketball. Ohio State and North Carolina arguably have the top two recruiting classes in the country. The Tar Heels feature power forward Brandan Wright and guards Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson among its class of six freshmen.

Ohio State boasted the ''Thad 5,'' the group named after Matta. The Buckeyes were without the highly regarded freshman center Greg Oden, who remains sidelined until January after undergoing right wrist surgery.

''We're waiting on Greg,'' Matta said. ''Where they got us tonight, he's going to help us a lot.''

In the meantime, Ohio State freshmen like Daequan Cook, Mike Conley Jr. and David Lighty are making significant, immediate contributions.

Conley had 17 points and Cook came off the bench to add 14. Lighty had 8.

North Carolina's freshmen made their mark, too. Ellington had 19 points and Wright, who was limited by foul trouble in the first half, was 4 of 5 in the second half when he scored 10 points.

The Tar Heels had trailed until Hansbrough scored on a layup 1 minutes 34 seconds into the second half to tie the score at 48-48. North Carolina had its first lead moments later when Reyshawn Terry scored on a layup to make it 50-48 2:13 into the half.

Ohio State did not give in that quickly, though. The Buckeyes came back and regained the lead on a trio of 3-pointers by Ivan Harris to go ahead, 64-58.

It didn't last. After Ohio State went ahead, 68-63, on a tip-in by Cook with just under 11 minutes to go, North Carolina went on a 17-2 run to turn the game for good. When Hansbrough scored on a layup with 6:33 to go, the Tar Heels had an 80-70 lead. Hansbrough scored 7 points in the decisive run and 14 in all in the second half. That made up for his 3 of 11 in the first half.

Ohio State threatened but never closed the gap after that.

The Buckeyes controlled the first half and never trailed, building as much as a 10-point lead at 35-25 before the Tar Heels closed to 48-44 at the half.

''It was a heck of a college basketball game,'' Tar Heels Coach Roy Williams said. ''When Greg Oden gets back and playing for team, they're going to be a heck of a team.''

Photo: David Lighty, one of Ohio State's freshmen who are making significant contributions, battling North Carolina's Danny Green for the ball. (Photo by Karl DeBlaker/Associated Press)